During extension, compression or strike-slip motion, shear zones accommodate large amountsof strain in the crust. Our understanding of these processes critically depends on our ability torecognize shear zones in the subsurface. The exact signature of shear zones in seismic reflectiondata is however not well understood. To advance our understanding, we simulate how threeoutcrop examples of shear zones (Holsnøy, Cap de Creus, Borborema) would look in differenttypes of seismic reflection data using 2-D convolution seismic modelling. We explore how geo-physical effects (e.g. frequency, illumination) and geological properties (e.g. shear zone dip andaspect ratio) affect the seismic signature of shear zones. Our models show three consistent seis-mic characteristics of shear zones: (1) multiple, inclined reflections, (2) converging reflectionsand (3) cross-cutting reflections that can help interpreters recognizing these structures withconfidence.